The European Space Agency (ESA) began a geosynchronous satellite program (EurMetSat) in 1977 with Meteosat-1. All told, six Meteosats have been placed in orbit. They sense in three spectral bands: 0.4 - 1.1 µm, 5.7 - 7.1 µm, and 10.5 - 12.5 µm. The top view below is a Meteosat-6 visible image over western Europe made on April 28, 1997. Russia started a new geosynchronous weather satellite program (GOMS) in 1995. The bottom image is a GOMS-1 thermal band image over the Indian Ocean made on February 28, 1995.

Both India and Japan have been active in designing, building, and launching metsats since the late 1970s. India's efforts began with Bhaskara 1 (June 7, 1979). There has since been two series (four each) of Insats (Insat-1A on April 10, 1988; Insat-2D in 1995), each with a visible and a thermal IR band; these are multi-purpose satellites also dedicated to communications and broadcasting. A representative Insat image (very few are available over the Internet) covering eastern Africa and southern Asia is shown in the top image. Japan commenced its GMS (Geostationary Meteorological Satellite) program (Himawari series) on July 14, 1977, sponsored by its National Space Development Agency (NASDA) both as an operational system and as a contribution to the worldwide GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Program) effort. Positioned at 140° E, the current member, GMS-5, with a VISSR in the visible, thermal IR, and water vapor band (6 µm), produces black and white individual full Earth views and color composites like that shown on the bottom over the western Pacific.

By combining images from GOES, Meteosat, and GMS, it is feasible to construct almost real-time cloud distribution coverage of most of the Earth's surface (exclusive of the poles), as reproduced here in the visible for April 28, 1997:

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